I’ve been wanting to do this post for ages. The first time I saw continent boxes on the internet, I knew I had to make some of my own. Geography is my favorite subject, and I’ve always loved studying other countries and cultures. I’ve been reading about continent boxes for a few years, have pinned numerous ideas on Pinterest, and I’ve had my own boxes for nearly 2 years. However, it’s a project I never quite finished, so that’s why I delayed posting about my boxes.
A few of my boxes need more in them, and all of my boxes could use decoration. I’m just not sure how I want to decorate them…
I thought I would go ahead and blog about what I do have, and maybe someone will have some suggestions on box decoration and other items I should have.
Here are our plain, white continent boxes:
South America: I definitely could use more items in this box. So far, I have 2 books, a rain forest calendar, a few landmark cards, a map, a few coins and stamps, a few plastic animals, and a small bag of alpaca fur (which we were given at an alpaca farm in England):
Since taking the above photo, I’ve picked up a few more South American items while in the US. These items were handmade in Peru:
Europe: Since I live in Europe, I have acquired a lot, but I’d love to get more! This box contains small flag cards, coins and stamps, landmark cards, postcards, a few maps and brochures, Scuffy the Tugboat written in Dutch, a Dutch wooden shoe keychain, a Welsh love spoon, 3 British recipe booklets, a Ukrainian club ornament, 2 children’s books from Switzerland (written in German), and part of a chocolate box from Latvia. Since taking this photo, I have also purchased a few items from Scotland, including a small book of Robert Burns’ poems and 4 small children’s books about Scottish heroes, but I don’t have a picture of them.
Asia—This box so far contains tiny flag cards, a few stamps and coins, landmark cards, a Chinese symbol cut-out (for love, I think), a panda toy and book, a Mongolian ger (which I made recently for our unit study of Mongolia), a trinket box from the Middle East, small tea tin from China, bookmarks from China, chopsticks from Japan, a map, and a flag of Singapore.
Australia: Kangaroo tea towel, boomerang, a kangaroo toy and book, small flag cards, money and stamps, landmark cards, Safari Ltd Land Down Under Toob set of animals, 3-part cards I made to go with the animals, a map, and a book. I included New Zealand and South Pacific islands in this box. 
North America: I included Central America and the Caribbean Islands in this box, too. I have small flag cards, landmark cards, postcards, a Native American magnet from Colorado, a moose bookmark from Colorado, a set of Grand Canyon cards, coins and stamps, a map, Safari Ltd North American Wildlife Toob animals, 2 animal books, a set of North American animal cards, and several North American wildlife card pocket sets. I also have a handkerchief and a coffee bag from Nicaragua.
Since I’m currently back in the US, I’m in the process of buying more North America items. When I get everything I want, I’ll post some more photos! Let’s just say that Southwest USA will be well-represented.
Antarctica: This set includes 3-part cards I made myself, a penguin book, an Antarctica book, a penguin slide puzzle, a map, and a Safari Ltd Penguins Toob.
Africa: This box includes tiny flag cards, landmark cards, a map, some African plastic animals, a book on African animals, a wallet and puzzle decoration from Morocco, some coins and stamps, and 2 key chains and a hand-made potholder all from Tanzania.
I’m also planning to buy a few more Toob sets. I’ll add photos to this post as I find more items.
I wanted to do this post just before doing a giveaway I’ve been planning to do for over a year. Yes, I’m awfully late, especially since this giveaway is something I was supposed to do as part of winning a Pay-it-Forward giveaway. I won the giveaway from Kylie from Our Worldwide Classroom. She lives in Australia, and she sent me the beautiful kangaroo tea towel and boomerang pictured above in my Australia section. They were perfect for my Australia box. So, probably next month, I’ll do my own Pay-it-Forward giveaway—a small packet with a few items from England for two of my readers…great for continent boxes or just for whatever. So stay tune for the giveaway!
If you’re not familiar with continent boxes, check out these blogs (I may add more at some point—there are loads of cool ideas out there in blogland):
Montessori Tidbits
What DID we do all day?
Counting Coconuts
I'm linking this post to "History and Geography" at
All Things Beautiful.
